Re-Inventing a Sculpture Pedestal ... Converting for Art's Sake

Ol' Buoys Club

Original pedestal

    After taking some time to make some additional plaster fish reliefs for the upcoming ​​10x10brunswick Art Show and the Yarmouth Art Festival, I turned my attention to getting a pedestal ready for my entry into the ARTinME show at the Boothbay Region Art Foundation in October. My plan was to enter my Ol' Buoys Club sculpture (see my blog entry for 7-25-16). I knew that I would need a new pedestal to accommodate the piece (28" wide), so I decided to convert a large horizontal pedestal that I already had on hand into a free standing table style pedestal. 
      I bought 4 pieces of 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" x 36" wood for the legs and a piece of 3/4" x 17 1/4" x 48" laminated pine for the top.  I cut off each of the leg pieces to 31". In order to have each leg abut tightly 
into the inner corners of the pedestal, I had to cut a notches in the 

Legs to be attached

Leg notches & blocks

Positioning leg

Top attached & plugged

Legs & stretchers attached & primed

Stand completed - photographed with sculpture "Breach"

bottom edge of each corner. I also had to attach a small piece of wood at the base of each corner so that each leg would have a level surface to sit on. I clamped the legs in place and then attached them with screws. (The screws were countersunk so that I could cover the screw heads with wooden plugs.) I cut the board that I was going to use for the new top to a length of 33", then rounded the corners. After sanding the top, I attached it with countersunk screws to the legged base, again using wooden plugs to cover the screw heads. The next step was to add stretchers between the legs to keep them straight and equidistant. In keeping with my penchant for re-utilizing leftover materials, I cut up a couple of old rake handles to make the stretchers. Once the stretchers were screwed in place and plugged, I gave the legs, stretchers and top a coat of primer, before giving the pedestal a fresh coat of paint.
​   It was ready...or so I thought. Right after finishing up the pedestal I got a call from the Saltwater Artists Gallery - my Ol' Buoys Club sculpture had just been sold! Guess I will have to go with "Plan B" ....maybe I will enter The Coastal Trio piece that I wrote about in my last blog entry. Stay tuned. In the meantime, I will take the new pedestal up to Saltwater and use it to display my bronze and mahogany sculpture "Breach".